Women and FriendsOctober 8 2017 By Abiodun Giwa

Abiodun Giwa

The Bible is very clear about the place of friends for Christians or believers: Friendship with the world is an enmity unto God. Before a man and woman will become husband and wife, they will first be friends or begin as friends, and then go ahead to be anything they want to be or plan to be. Without the man and woman entering into a permanent relationship, their offspring would be given an unwanted stigma. But that is fast becoming history in countries, where men and women are afraid of getting married - to save their friendship from fears that friendship die with marriage and fears of divorce. Aren't they justified? At least, they have a reason to prove their justification that Jesus Christ came into the world via a Holy Ghost pregnancy before marriage, and before Joseph had carnal knowledge of Mary. But today, many men are afraid of the woman either as a friend or marriage partner, because they say the woman has the tendency to control the man. Some men point to the early history of men and women as contained in the holy scripture, while others say that government marital laws have made the woman all powerful, and that marriage has become a source of misery and punishment to the man as breadwinner and carrier of burdens. Although some women have counter attacked, describing men as lacking in feelings and that all the man wants is the enjoyment from sex in relationship, and the woman does not approve the man's polygamous nature. The woman does not want cheating in anyway and wants to be worshiped for what she has to offer - as the source of the fruit of marriage.The tango and the conflict between the man and the woman dated back to creation, when Eve got Adam to disobey the creator, and both later blamed their misconduct on the serpent. The human race was into suffering that has no equal. Note that Eve reportedly convinced Adam to act wrongfully. Then, Abram got a call to leave his father's house and embark on a journey. Along the way, the woman made him take a second wife - forced him into polygamy, because she felt she could not timely give a child. Before the ink on the life of Abraham and Sarah could dry up, Rebekah had manipulated Isaac and her two children, making Jacob to obtain the blessing that rightly belonged to Esau. Consequently Esau sold his birthright. What kind of mother would do that to a son? What crime did Esau committed against his mother to justify such a treatment against him? Was Rebekah bipolar? Again, Jacob was fleeing from Laban's house with his wives and children, when Laban caught up with him. Here, Rachel sat on an idol she took from Laban's house, unknown to Jacob! Made Jacob a suspect. As if that was not enough, Joseph was confronted with Potiphar in Egypt, with an offer for an undue relationship. If Joseph was not smart, it would have been the end of his journey and sojourn on earth. One can go on and on seemingly without an end to the woman's history of power play and the endangerment of her partner, the man. It is not that there are no good deeds by women, but the negative role appears to be more than the positive role. Could it have been the reason Christ distanced himself from permanent relationship with a woman, choosing to have them around him for other needs and not for the deep affections and commitments?.